Metal railway-tie.



'PATENTED NOV. 7, 1905.

J. WARREN.

METAL RAILWAY TIE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY12,1905.

ANDF'EW. a. GRAHAM 00., FMOYO-LITHQGRAFNERS. WASNINGYON. o. c.

' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

METAL RAILWAY-TIE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 7, 1905.

Applicationifiled July 12, 1905. Serial No. 269,350-

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES WARREN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Washington, Washington county, State of Pennsylvania, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Metal Railway -Ties, ofwhich the following is a specification.

My invention relates to means for connecting and securing railway-railsto ties, and has for its object to provide improved means foraccomplishing this purpose; and to these ends my invention consists inthe various features of construction and arrangement of parts having themode of operation and accomplislr ing the results substantially ashereinafter more particularly set forth.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, in which I have shown apreferred embodiment of my invention, Figure 1 is a longitudinalvertical section of a railway-tie and portions of rails with my improvedmeans for securing the rails to the ties. Fig. 2is a plan view of thesame,and Fig. 3 is a transverse section on the line 3 3 of Fig. 2.

In the growing use of metallic ties for rail- 1 roads in order toprovide a satisfactory tie and means for fastening the rails theretothat will meet the requirements of practical use the construction mustbe simple, made up of as few parts as possible, and so made as to becapable of adjustment for different sizes or sections of rails and fordifferent gages.

It is the object of my present invention to provide such a constructionand one that will meet the above requirements, and I will now proceed toset forth the preferred embodiment of my invention whereby I accomplishthese results.

Referring to the drawings, A represents the body of the tie, whichis ofmetal, such as iron or steel, and may be of various shapes and is shownin the form of a heavy channelplate. The ends a are bent down for agreater or less distance, which not only aids in preventing any lateralmotion of the track or longitudinal motion ofthe tie when once laid andsecured in place, but also furnishes an abutment for the fasteningdevice. This plate is provided with a number of openings B B C C, shownin the form of oblong slots and arranged in two parallel lines,preferably on either side of the central longitudinal line of the plateand also arranged in position adjacent the position of the rails D D,and these openings are of a suflicient length to permit of a certainamount of adjustment of the rails with relation to the same.

In order to secure the rails, as well as to adjust them in properrelation to each other and to the tie-bars, I provide what may be termedtwo-part fastening-bars, the two parts of the bars being capable ofbeing adjusted with relation to each other, and the bars being alsocapable of adjustment with relation to each other. Thus in the drawingsE E represent the two parts of a fasteningba'r, and each part isprovided with a head or hook e, which are adapted to pass through theopenings B and G, for instance, in the tie and to grasp or bear upon oneside of the feet of the rails D D, and these heads or hooks are soshaped as to tend to hold the rails in close relation to the top of thetie-bar, as well as to adjust the rails laterally with relation to thebar, as hereinafter pointed out. These two parts, as E E, are united bya single securing device, and in the present instance I have shown a nutG, adapted to fit the screw-threaded ends of the twopart fastening-bar,the two parts of the bar being of half-round metal or being drawn downto halfround metal'near their threaded ends, and being correspondinglythreaded, so as to be embraced by the single fastening device or nut. Itwill be understood that by removing the nut the two parts E and E may bemoved longitudinally with relation to each other, so that their ends 6 6will be at the desired distance apart, and then the securing device ornut being applied to the threaded ends the two-part bar will practicallyform a single unit and will be capable of being adjusted longitudinallyon the tie. In the present instance the threaded end of the two-part barpasses through an opening in the downwardlyprojecting portion a of thetie-bar. In actual use of course there is a plurality of two-partfastening-bars, as E E and F F, respectively, having heads or hooks e eand ff, and each two-part bar is secured together by a single securingdevice or nut G.

In applying my improved fastening device its use and advantages will belargely understood by those skilled in the art, and it may be said ingeneral that the distance between any two corresponding points of tworails of any size or section is always equal to the gage of the track atthat particular point, and if the feet of all the rails are of the samewidth it is only necessary to adjust the two parts of the fastening-barso that their hooks or heads 6 e will engage the feet of the respectiverails, and then the nut can be applied to secure the two parts together.If, however, rails of different sizes or widths or having differentwidths of feet are used, it will be seen that the two parts of the barscan be properly adjusted with relation to each other to grasp these feetand hold the rails at the proper gage, and then the nut can be appliedto secure the parts of the bar in proper position. When, however, it isdesirable to vary the gage of a track as, for instance, in connectionwith curves where it is generally desirable to secure the rails a littlefarther apart than on the straight portions of a track having the samestandard gageit will be seen that the two parts of the fastening-bar canbe adjusted in proper relation to each other and then be securedtogether so as to constitute and move as a unit.

In practice it is preferable to place two of the two-part fastening-barsin connection with each tie-bar, one of the fastening-bars having hooksor heads engaging the feet of the rails on one side and the otherengaging the feet of the rails on the other side, and the threaded endsof the fastening-bars will extend through the downwardly-projectingportions it of the tie-bars at opposite ends there of. In this way itwill be seen that by simply loosening one nut or fastening device of oneof the fastening-bars and tightening the fastening device of the otherfastening-bar the rails can be adjusted with relation to the tie-bars soas to secure an absolutely straight track and at the same time retain anaccurate gage between the rails. The same is true when the fasteningdevices are used in connection with curves in the trackthat is to say,the rails may be moved laterally with relation to the side bars andstill maintain their relations to each other and to the standard gage.

While I have shown a single nut as a securing means for the two parts ofthe fasteningbar, it is evident that other forms of fastening devicesmay be used, and these fastening devices may also act as adjustingdevices for adjusting the tie-bars with respect to the tieplate.

What I claim is- 1. In a device of the character described, a two-partfastening-bar each part having an engaging head, and asingle securingdevice uniting the two parts, substantially as described.

2. In a device of the character described, a two-part fastening-bar eachpart having an engaging head, and having half-round portions and asingle nut securing the two parts together, substantially as described.A

3. In adevice of the character described, the combination with atie-plate having openings and adapted to support the rails of a two-partfastening-bar having engaging heads for the rails, and a single securingdeviceiuniting the two parts together and serving as an adjusting devicefor the fastening-bar, substantially as described.

4. In a device of the character described, the combination with atie-plate having openings and adapted to support the rails, offasteningbars each having heads adapted to project through the openingsand engage the rails on opposite sides of their feet, and adjustingdevices for said fastening-bars arranged at opposite ends of thetie-plate, substantially as described.

5. In a device of the character described, the combination with atie-plate having openings and having abutments at its ends, of a pair offastening-bars each fastening-bar comprising two parts having engagingheads, and securing devices uniting the two parts, said securing devicesalso serving as adjusting devices whereby the two parts of thefastening-bars may be adjusted with relation to each other and the twobars be adjusted with relation to each other, substantially asdescribed.

6. In a device of the character described, the combination with atie-plate having two series of openings in its upper surface and havingbent ends forming abutments, of a pair of fastening-bars each barcomprising two parts having heads adapted to engage the same side of thetwo rails and to be adjusted with relation to each other, securingdevices for securing the two parts in their adjusted relation, and meansfor adjusting the two bars from opposite ends of the tie-plate,substantially as described.

In testimony whereof Ihave signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

JAMES l/VA RREN.

Witnesses:

FRANK T. OTLEY, VIoToR F. SHAFER.

